LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer John Hugh Douglas MacDONNELL
Service No: 422633
Born: Newcastle NSW, 28 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND457), Germany, 24 March 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Hamburg War Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Charles and Ina Adelle MacDonnell
Roll of Honour: Merewether NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, Sandgate NSW
At 1845 hours on the night of 24 March 1944 Lancaster ND457 took off from Oakington to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed at Warder some 17kms south east of Rendsburg. Five of the crew members had been killed and two were Prisoners of War.
The crew members of ND457 were:
Sergeant Charles Butson (1310755) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Francis Henry Fowler (1850079) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant R A Hide (1392048) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant C Hughes (422711) (RNZAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Douglas George William Humphreys (144604) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Thomas Edmund Bede Kyle (420015) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer John Hugh Douglas MacDonnell (422633) (Bomb Aimer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/26/406
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line